Joplin schools still struggling to regroup

Thursday

May 26, 2011 at 12:01 AMMay 26, 2011 at 6:23 PM

Joplin R-8 Schools are scrambling to regroup after Sunday’s tornado destroyed three school buildings, including the high school, and seriously damaged three more. It also is working on plans to begin the fall semester on the scheduled date of Aug. 17.

WILLIAM KLUSENER

Joplin R-8 Schools are scrambling to regroup after Sunday’s tornado destroyed three school buildings, including the high school, and seriously damaged three more. It also is working on plans to begin the fall semester on the scheduled date of Aug. 17.

Damage to the buildings is estimated to be between $80 million and $100 million, Superintendent C.J. Huff said at a Wednesday afternoon press conference at Joplin North Middle School. He said the district has full insurance to rebuild the structures and replace in-school supplies, such as textbooks and computers, and believes the district will be able to afford the $5,000 deductible.

The district also is working diligently to contact each of the 3,400 students who live in the impact zone.

“The district is a large part of the Joplin family, and we are continuing our efforts to contact the students,” Huff said. “We need students to call in so we can account for everyone, even if they’re not affected.”

Huff said all students at Irving Elementary School, which was destroyed, had been located.

The district also was trying to contact staff members who had not yet checked in. At the conference, Huff said the district was still looking for three teachers, but a later email sent by district representatives said all faculty had finally been accounted for.

Per district policy, Huff would not confirm whether any students or faculty had been killed, but he did not rule out the possibility that some staff members may have been in the buildings late.

“We have some very dedicated staff,” he said.

Regional school representatives also gathered with Huff at the podium to show their support, and Huff said he was awed.”

“The outpouring of support has been humbling, to say the least,” he said, choked with emotion. “This is a great place to live and we’d like to get back to that.”

Among the supporters was USD 250 Superintendent Destry Brown. Brown said there were no currently plans to take on students, but that the district would offer resources and moral support.

“We’ve offered anything they need,” Brown said. “We’ll do anything we can to be supportive.”

Brown said the district has a similar response plan to that of the Joplin Schools, but that the situation is new to all of the schools.

“Until you really get into it, it’s a learning process,” Brown said. “It all changes when the sirens go off. There will be a lot of things to be learned as the Joplin district goes through this.”

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